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The European Commission on Thursday issued a warning to Poland, Hungary and any other EU country inclined to disregard fundamental rights: give no respect, get no money.
The Commission forcefully defended a decision to reject applications for grants from six Polish towns that adopted “LGBTI-free” legislation or “family rights” resolutions, saying they had failed to meet a basic requirement — that their proposed projects would be accessible to all EU citizens without discrimination.
Asked if the Commission stood by its decision in the face of criticism from Poland, the Commission’s deputy chief spokeswoman, Dana Spinant, simply read a brief statement from her boss, President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Our treaties ensure that every person in Europe is free to be who they are, live where they like, love who they want, and aim as high as they want,” von der Leyen said. “I will continue to push for a Union of equality.”
Although the resolutions adopted by the municipalities represent clear violations of EU fundamental principles, the Commission’s move to block funds is generating special attention because of a debate that has erupted over what the EU’s heads of state and government actually intended when they agreed on a rule-of-law mechanism as part of their agreement last week on a historic €1.8 trillion budget and coronavirus recovery package.
Proponents of tougher enforcement of rule-of-law standards insist that the leaders’ agreement has cleared the way for the Council to take action previously blocked by unanimity requirements under the EU treaties. Because aspects of the budget deal still need approval and ratification by the European and national parliaments, a dramatic fight over the rule-of-law issue could play out in the months ahead.
The Commission’s decision to reject the grant applications from the six municipalities under a “town twinning program” was made after officials requested clarification on July 6 about the possibility that the anti-gay resolutions would impede access to some citizens.
“The call for proposals for this program stipulated that it should be accessible to all European citizens without any form of discrimination on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation,” another spokesman, Stefan de Keersmaecker, said. “And so following clarifications received from seven out of the eight applicants, six applications have been rejected because the answer given by the legal representative of the project did not provide the evaluation committee with sufficient assurance.”
Spinant also noted that the commissioner for equality, Helena Dalli, was working on a broader rights plan to be unveiled later this year.
When pressed about the possibility the Commission was taking a tougher line, and moving to test compliance prior to funds being disbursed rather than during evaluation of the implementation of programs, officials simply reiterated that all EU countries are obligated to respect fundamental rights and democratic principles when carrying out EU policies — and that this also applies to the cohesion and structural funds that account for much of the EU budget money received by Poland, Hungary and other countries.
“As regards respect of these rights, including the charter of fundamental rights, the impact on EU funding,” de Keersmaecker said, “we can only reiterate what we have already said in the past public authorities which receive or manage EU funding including through cohesion policy funds, structural and investment funds, have to respect these rights.”